THE CORALIE SITE, GRAND TURK

by Bill Keegan and Betsy Carlson

This article was originally written for Times of the Islands: The International Magazine of the Turks and Caicos*.
It was published in the Summer 1997 issue and is reprinted here with their kind
permission.

Panoramic view of excavations at the Coralie site in January 1996.

Located on the western shore of North Creek at the
northwest end of Grand Turk, the Coralie site (GT-3) is the oldest
archaeological site in the Bahama archipelago. It is also the best example of an
Ostionan colony in all of the West Indies. The site, located on the property of
Coralie Gardens, is within 20 yards of North Creek. About 300 yards to the west
is a sand beach above a shallow tidal flat (less than 3 feet deep) which extends
for about 500 yards to the barrier reef beyond which the sea drops to 7,000 feet
in the Turks Island Passage. "North wells," a seasonal source of
potable water for the past 300 years, is about half a mile south of the site. It
is likely that this low lying area in which water collects today provided a
relatively permanent water supply for the original inhabitants.

Conch shell tool in situ.

The shore of North Creek is lined with red
mangroves and sea purslane, the ocean shore is predominantly sea grapes, and the
dune itself is covered by dense acacia thorn brush and cacti, especially prickly
pear. The present environment, however, is a poor reflection of the past.
Archaeobotanist Dr. Lee Newsom's study of wood charcoal from the site has
revealed several trees that are today rare or absent from Grand Turk. These
include wild lime, ironwood, Celastraceae (bittersweet family), and Palm trunk
wood. Buttonwood, which today grows along the margin of the North Creek, was
also present in the charcoal samples. Moreover, clear growth rings of varying
width and morphology are visible in charred wood samples, reflecting an annual
rainfall regime of alternating wet and dry seasons.

The Coralie site was discovered in 1992 when
prehistoric potsherds were exposed on the ground surface by land clearance for a
housing development. To define the boundaries of the site 35 test pits were dug.
These tests revealed a high incidence of sea turtle and other animal bones,
pottery, and mollusk shells in low frequency distributed over a 40 (east-west)
by 150 (north-south) square yard area covering more than 2 acres. The
archaeological deposits have been protected by burial under 15 to 25 inches of
soil "overburden." Although we obtained one relatively early
radiocarbon date (AD 900) from charcoal recovered in a test pit, it was only
after we began to open larger areas of the site that I realized that this was a
colony dating to the initial ceramic-age settlement of the Bahamas. Between 1995
and 1997 more than 250 square meters have been excavated in nearly contiguous
units. Ten radiocarbon dates these excavations indicate that the site was
occupied from about 1200 to 800 years ago (cal AD 705 and 1170).

Marsha Ford excavates a midden deposit under
the watchful eye of David Bowen.

The people who occupied this site were the
ancestors of the Tainos, the people encountered by Columbus when he reached the
Bahamas in 1492. No physical remains have yet been found of the people
themselves. In fact their burial practices are poorly known. We did recover some
of their jewelry, in the form of shell beads and a pendant made from
mother-of-pearl. Several pieces of polished greenstone, which had flaked off of
celts or axes, and a nearly complete greenstone axe provide evidence that these
were the first people to clear the land on Grand Turk, probably for small
gardens in which manioc, sweet potatoes, cotton, and other crops were grown. We
also recovered a variety of conch-shell tools, clam-shell scraping tools, and
whelk spoons and scraping tools which could have been used in woodworking,
preparing the land for cultivation, and processing turtles and fishes. The most
spectacular find is a wooden canoe paddle discovered by Capt. Bob Gascoine. In
February 1997, Elise LeCompte directed systematic underwater excavations where
the canoe paddle was found. A few additional pieces of worked wood were
recovered, but nothing of definite Indian manufacture. Samples of peat collected
during these excavations will aid in our efforts to recreate the aboriginal
environment.

The most common artifact in the site is broken
pieces of pottery vessels ("potsherds"). All of the more than 1,800
potsherds from the site contain mineral sand tempers. Because the Turks and
Caicos are composed entirely of limestone, this pottery must have been imported
from the Greater Antilles. Stylistically the pottery is all Ostionan Ostionoid,
with both fineware and crudeware represented. This is the first pure Ostionan
site discovered north of Hispaniola. Several sherds merit specific comment.
Several large sherds from navicular (boat-shaped) bowls with a strap handles
rising above the rim are classic Ostionan. A red-painted appendage, in the shape
of a turtle's flipper, and a wedge-shaped lug with the face of a turtle, came
from an effigy bowl (a bowl shaped like an animal). The complete bowl would have
had the turtle head lug at one end and four flippers arranged just below the rim
of an oval vessel. Finally, numerous griddle sherds have been recovered,
including one from a griddle that was 1.5 feet in diameter. The presence of
griddles suggests that cassava bread was being made at the site, an activity
associated with sites occupied for a long period of time.

Most of the sherds show evidence of over-use.
Earthenwares fired in an oxygen-rich environment, like Ostionan pottery,
typically have a darker core which results from lower internal temperatures
during firing. The sherds from Coralie lack a dark core which indicates that
they have been heated completely through. Such complete heating reduces the
structural integrity of a vessel causing it to break more easily. In the
language of ceramic technologists, they become "friable." Several very
large sherds in our excavations were so friable that they had the appearance and
texture of popcorn. This situation suggests that pots were in short supply,
perhaps because they all had to be imported from the Greater Antilles. Whatever
the reason, the pots and griddles were used so much that the clay was cooked
completely through until they lost their elastic properties and crumbled.

The site is notable for its unusual collection of
animal bones, especially green sea turtles, which occur nowhere else in the
region in such abundance. In addition to large quantities of turtle bones, we
recovered the bones of iguanas, snakes, birds, and large fishes. Using the
zooarchaeological convention of estimating the minimum number of individuals,+
we counted at least 518 animals, 413 conchs, and 212 other mollusks in the 220
lbs of animal bones and shell that were excavated in 1993. In terms of meat
yields, 57% of the diet came from sea turtles, 24% from fishes, 12% from
iguanas, 5% from queen conch, and less than 1% each from birds, spiny lobster,
and other mollusks. The most common bird in the sample was the red-footed booby,
a bush nesting species that is commonly extirpated when humans arrive in their
territory. Today there is only one nesting colony of red-footed boobies in all
of the Bahamas.

A surprising discovery was how many of the fishes
were very large, including one 45 lb barracuda, many 10-20 lb groupers, snappers
and rainbow parrotfishes, and some sharks. These fishes were likely captured
using spears and/or hook and line. In this regard Coralie differs from later
sites. The Coralie samples are also different in that large rainbow parrotfishes
(Scarus quacamaia) are the most common Scarid, while at all later sites the much
smaller stoplight parrotfish (Sparisoma viride) predominates. Porgies,
surgeonfish and mojarras are regularly found at late sites, but are barely
represented at Coralie despite schools of mojarras in the shallows of North
Creek adjacent to the site. Finally, the abundance of herring-size fishes found
in other West Indian sites were absent from the Coralie samples.

In sum, the faunal remains are substantially
different from those at later sites, and reflect the richer diet available to
those who are the first to settle a new area. As one would expect, the highest
ranked species were consumed first, and the occupants of the site greatly
benefitted from being the first humans to exploit the pristine resource base.
Even their food-processing techniques were adapted to the plethora of green
turtles in their environment. One of the most common features in the site is
hearths constructed from limestone rock and conch shells on which a turtle
carapace was used as the vessel in which turtle meat, iguana, and fishes were
cooked together. Surprisingly, very few mollusks were eaten.

From top: Dark stains show the deterioration of houseposts
(Betsy Carlson). Earthwatch volunteers Carole Haan, Michael
Dion, and Barbara Toomey wrap a delicate turtle bone in foil
prior to removing it from a hearth (Betsy Carlson).
This pottery lug was fashioned in the shape of a turtle head (Ben Castricone).

Perhaps the most remarkable discovery is the
stains left from the deterioration of structures on the site. Four large round
stains mark where the central posts of a house rotted in place. As expected, the
soil around these center posts had virtually no artifacts. The absence of
artifacts supports the interpretation that this space was inside a structure
because, as Columbus reported for the contact period and as is typical of most
traditional houses, the interiors would have been swept clean. Midden deposits,
places where people dumped their garbage, around the perimeter of the structure
attest to the practice of sweeping debris against house walls.

The conjunction of midden and posts was especially
evident at the northern end of the structure. Here a linear grey stain
represents the remains of several large posts which probably comprised a wall.
Running in a semi-circle away from the wall stain is a series of smaller
diameter post stains. These stains are reminiscent of the wind screens attached
to aboriginal houses at the Golden Rock site on St. Eustatius, which date from
just prior to this period. The "house" at the Coralie site seems to
have been at least 50 feet long.

Because the archaeological deposits are more than
two feet thick, and because adjacent hearths occur at different depths, the site
must have been occupied for a substantial period of time. During this time there
may have been several episodes of rebuilding. The substantial amount of loose
charcoal in the site may indicate that at least some structures were burned.
This is a common practice in the tropics where thatched roof houses become
infested with insect pests and other vermin after a house has been occupied for
five to ten years. The old structures are burned and new houses built nearby.

One episode of rebuilding may have been caused by
a rise in sea level. The most deeply buried hearths (cooking fires) are less
than 2 inches above the present groundwater table. As a result, the sand around
the hearths is constantly wetted by capillary action. Moreover, during
"spring tides" when tidal fluctuations are at their greatest, this
level of the site is underwater. It makes no sense to build hearths so close to
the water table, especially when the dune on which the site is located slopes
upward from the site. The only logical conclusion is that sea level was lower at
this time, otherwise daily tidal fluctuations would have flooded the hearths.
This finding coincides with recent studies along Gulf Coast Florida, which
indicate that sea level was as much as a 2 feet lower than present between 600
and 750 AD.

That the site was flooded in the past is apparent
as a wedge of fine sand that overlays the North Creek side of the site. The sand
wedge has a flat upper surface and a sloping lower surface which would be
expected in the lake-bottom situation that would have prevailed as North Creek
flooded the site. Moreover, a conch-shell tool appears to have been partly
consumed by boring marine sponges, and turtle bones appear to have been preyed
upon by marine worms. These circumstances could only prevail if artifacts
discarded on the surface of the site were submerged for a period of time. These
data reinforce the radiocarbon dates, and demonstrate that the site was first
occupied before sea level rose to near present-day levels around AD 850.

Under the rainbow at Coralie Gardens.

The Coralie site is one of the most important
archaeological sites in all of the West Indies. It contains evidence from a time
period about which very little is presently known. Samples from the site are
also giving us the opportunity to recreate what Grand Turk was like prior to its
historic deforestation. We are especially fortunate that the owners of the
Coralie Gardens development coralie@caribsurf.com,
especially Mr. Andrew Newlands, in conjunction with the Turks and Caicos
government, have set aside the property on which the site is located. Choice
houselots adjacent to the sea, North Creek, and the Coralie archaeological site
are still available. We are also grateful for the assistance of EARTHWATCH
volunteers and the Turks and Caicos National Museum.

Modified from: Bahamian Archaeology: Life in the Bahamas
and Turks and Caicos Before Columbus, by William Keegan, 1997.

*Times of the Islands, ISSN 1017-6853, is published four times
per year by Times Publications Ltd.,
P.O. Box 234, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, BWI. E-mail:
timespub@caribsurf.com

Special thanks to Coralie Properties for their efforts to preserve the cultural heritage of the Turks and Caicos.